Liver Become Mortal Sword Immortal

"It's fine." Yun Shu shook his head. "Just a bit drained for now, nothing serious."

Having fired off four sword beams in a row, it would be strange if he weren't drained.

At that moment, Lin Yang saw Yun Shu's hands still trembling and finally believed that Yun Shu really had been practicing swordsmanship that morning, not "swordsmanship" of another sort.

"Is that so? Then rest for a bit, and take this Qi Nurturing Pill first." Lin Yang produced a Qi Nurturing Pill, his expression tense as he spoke.

"No need, Senior Brother can go check if that old man has anything valuable on him." Yun Shu shook his head with a smile. "I just need a little rest."

"Alright then." Lin Yang put the Qi Nurturing Pill away and walked over to the old man.

He was still shaken by the old man's strength from earlier—that ghostlike power far surpassed his own, leaving him without even the ability to resist.

Yet Yun Shu had cut him down with two sword beams, proving that Yun Shu already ranked among the kind of experts Lin Yang couldn't even begin to fathom.

The menial disciple he'd once done missions with had now become one of the few strong figures in the Outer Sect.

"There's nothing good in here, just these rags." Lin Yang was thorough in his search, stripping the old man's skeletal corpse bare.

In the end, he retrieved two bamboo slips.

"Ghost Shadow Steps, and this is Thunderclap Fist—should be the techniques the old man was using. But neither seems overwhelmingly powerful; maybe his strength was too depleted to bring out their full potential." Lin Yang analyzed.

"Ghost Shadow Steps is probably a mid-grade movement martial technique, fairly valuable. Thunderclap Fist is low-grade."

Yun Shu paused. "Martial techniques are divided into upper, middle, and lower grades?"

"That's right. For example, the Falling Cloud Palm the sect issues doesn't even count as a martial technique—it's unranked, not even low-grade. If we turn them in to the sect, a mid-grade movement technique could exchange for over a hundred Qi Nurturing Pills, and this low-grade fist technique for about fifty. But if we sell them down the mountain, they'd definitely fetch a higher price."

Yun Shu nodded slightly after hearing this. His knowledge of these basics was extremely limited; he still needed to study up in the Scripture Pavilion, which he planned to do once he returned.

Otherwise, traveling the world without recognizing certain things or even knowing of their existence would limit his awareness. The more knowledge he had, the better his chances when facing danger.

"Alright, we'll talk about exchanging them when we get back. Does he have any other pills?"

"No." Lin Yang shook his head. "Given his state, he probably used every pill just to keep himself alive."

"But the Dynasty didn't even tell us he existed, which messed up our mission grade assessment. I'm going to report this to the sect when I get back and ask for their judgment."

Yun Shu spoke up instead. "Maybe the Dynasty didn't know he was still alive either. That's perfectly possible. If they really knew, they wouldn't have dared to do this."

Of course, it was also possible the Dynasty had deliberately sent the sect this way, using sect disciples to test whether the old man was still alive.

That would involve a power play between the Dynasty and the sect. As low-level disciples, they had no say—even if the sect knew, what could they do?

Yun Shu glanced at Lin Yang's indignant expression, then smiled. "But even if you report it, whatever punishment the sect hands the Dynasty has nothing to do with us. The question is, how do we explain killing this old man when we get back?"

"Just tell the truth, right?" Lin Yang said. "With Junior Brother Yun's strength, ranking in the top hundred of the Outer Sect Disciple Ranking, even the top ten, wouldn't be a problem."

"But what does that solve? The sect would still investigate me, and that's just more trouble." Yun Shu kept smiling.

Lin Yang paused. Yes, Junior Brother Yun's cultivation speed was far too fast...

Better not to draw attention for now.

After all, Junior Brother Yun only had a Triple Spiritual Root. If he attracted real trouble, the consequences could be endless.

"I was thoughtless." Lin Yang sighed.

Yun Shu propped himself up to sit. "Let me rest a bit, then we'll go loot the mountain stronghold. Whatever we get, we get. Today's events, we just treat as a simple mission. That old bastard's worth a hundred and fifty Qi Nurturing Pills—we've already broken even."

"Alright!"

A day later, Yun Shu and Lin Yang returned to the sect.

The Fat Steward received them as usual.

"What, mission complete?" The Fat Steward smiled as he took the mission token Yun Shu handed over.

He rarely saw A- or B-rank missions completed each month; C-rank was usually the highest, after all, this was just the Outer Sect, where the strongest disciples were only at the Third Layer of Qi Refining.

A- and B-rank missions were generally only manageable for Inner Sect disciples or steward-level elders.

"Yes, it's done. I'm here to turn it in." Yun Shu said.

"One Body Tempering Stage Six, two Body Refining Fifth Level." The Fat Steward shot Yun Shu a surprised look. "You did it alone?"

"With a friend." Yun Shu glanced at Lin Yang.

The Fat Steward nodded slightly, but even so, he marveled inwardly.

This one's strength was indeed absurdly high.

Setting aside everything else, being able to take on a Body Tempering Stage Six and a Body Refining Fifth Level alone, kill them, and considering the travel time, he might have done it in less than a day.

Even if he used some trick, it was still remarkable.

"Normally, the Dynasty needs to submit the intel, and we issue the orders from there. But with you, I'm at ease." The Fat Steward chuckled. "Here are a hundred and fifty Qi Nurturing Pills. Take them."

"As for other spoils, since they're not demonic beast materials, I won't take them." The Fat Steward smiled. "You can sell them at the market."

"Alright." Yun Shu nodded.

So the Fat Steward only handled demonic beast-related items; other gains couldn't be offloaded through him.

No point handing everything over to him then—he could just sell it directly at the market from now on.

"Many thanks."

Yun Shu took the Qi Nurturing Pills, and the Fat Steward also carved the Contribution Points onto the Jade Token before handing it to him.

"The D-grade Mission is one Contribution Point, and the C-grade Mission is three. Your total now is seven Contribution Points," the Fat Steward said. "Since some of these were cooperative tasks, I've counted them as halves and added them for now, but if you do any more joint missions later, I'll have to deduct."

"I'd like to go to the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion to learn about the continent and the basics of cultivation. How many Contribution Points would that cost?" Yun Shu asked.

"For the most basic access, one Contribution Point lets you read for a month. As for cultivation methods and martial skills, a Low-grade method costs three Contribution Points, and a Mid-grade one costs five," the Fat Steward said with a smile, not minding the extra explanation.

"Of course, you can also pay with pills like Qi Nurturing Pills. For example, three hundred Qi Nurturing Pills can buy you a Mid-grade martial skill," the Fat Steward added with a grin. "With your current assets, you could give it a try."

Yun Shu was speechless.

Didn't Lin Yang say that a Mid-grade martial skill could be sold to the sect for one hundred fifty Qi Nurturing Pills? And now the sect turns around and sells it for three hundred?

And this was just a Reprint Edition—the kind where the original could be copied into countless versions?

The Fat Steward didn't mention High-grade martial skills at all, likely thinking Yun Shu couldn't afford them for now, or simply didn't need them yet.

Yun Shu nodded lightly. "Many thanks."

"Are you heading to the second floor of the Scripture Pavilion, Junior Brother?" Lin Yang guessed Yun Shu's intention, since he'd been wanting to shore up his basic knowledge for a while now.

"Yes," Yun Shu replied with a nod. "I want to go now."

"Alright," Lin Yang said. "Then I'll head back first. If anything comes up, you can call for me."

"Mm." Yun Shu nodded and then walked toward the second floor. "Senior Brother Lin, if you need anything, you can also come to me."

The Fat Steward glanced at Lin Yang and chuckled. "It's rare to see such an ambitious disciple. You've made a good friend."

"Yeah." Lin Yang smiled, cupped his hands to the Fat Steward, and left.

Yun Shu arrived at the second floor. The steward here was an old man with an immortal air. He looked at Yun Shu and said kindly, "Here to read, or to exchange for martial skills and Immortal Arts?"

"Steward, how many Contribution Points would it take to exchange for an Immortal Art?"

"The cheapest would be at least a hundred," the old man said, stroking his beard lightly.

A hundred.

Yun Shu was taken aback. That was ridiculously expensive.

Still, for a disciple at the Body Refining Peak or even the Qi Condensation Stage, a hundred Contribution Points didn't seem insurmountable.

Take Yun Shu himself—in just a few days, he'd already earned nearly ten Contribution Points.

If he were at Body Refining Peak, he might be able to clear missions even faster.

There would be difficulty, sure, but nothing too extreme.

"Thank you for the clarification, Steward." Yun Shu then said, "I'd like to browse the books."

"Alright, give me your Jade Token." The old steward smiled.

At this moment, Yun Shu felt that these stewards really had decent temperaments—none of that annoying arrogance or rudeness.

After a moment's thought, he understood the key point.

Most of these stewards were people with no hope of seeking immortality—their talent had hit a ceiling. Since they couldn't advance further to become Elders or the like, the best they could do was to curry favor with the new disciples.

They were all potential rising stars. And answering questions like this was part of their duties anyway. If they did their jobs well and a disciple soared to greatness, that disciple might remember to give them a leg up.

No talent for cultivation, but plenty of power in their positions—that wasn't so bad either.

"Just joined and already have seven Contribution Points. Not bad, not bad." The old man glanced at Yun Shu, then deducted a mark. A flash of gold light flickered before settling back to calm.

"You can read any book on this floor freely. Martial skills and the like require the third floor," the old man said. "I'm sure you know the rules: one Contribution Point lets you read for a month. Also, none of these books can be taken out."

"I understand. Thank you."

Yun Shu stepped inside. The space was vast, housing tens of thousands of books—some were thread-bound books, others were Jade Slips or Bamboo Slips.

Most of the contents were miscellaneous, but the most valuable were the cultivation insights left by predecessors. Those were the summaries of a person's entire lifetime of practice, capable of saving others countless detours.